The Trump administration isn’t changing the rules that pertain to separating an adult from the child. Those remain the same. Separation happens only if officials find that the adult is falsely claiming to be the child’s parent, or is a threat to the child, or is put into criminal proceedings.

It’s the last that is operative here. The past practice had been to give a free pass to an adult who is part of a family unit. The new Trump policy is to prosecute all adults. The idea is to send a signal that we are serious about our laws and to create a deterrent against re-entry. (Illegal entry is a misdemeanor, illegal re-entry a felony.)

Congress can change the rules so the Flores consent decree will no longer apply, and it can appropriate more money for family shelters at the border. This is an obvious thing to do that would eliminate the tension between enforcing our laws and keeping family units together. The Trump administration is throwing as many resources as it can at the border to expedite the process, and it desperately wants the Flores consent decree reversed. Despite some mixed messages, if the administration had its druthers, family units would be kept together and their cases settled quickly.

Elizabeth Smart’s captor Wanda Barzee released from prison Wanda Barzee, who helped her husband kidnap Elizabeth Smart in 2002 from the then-14-year-old’s Salt Lake City home, was released Wednesday from Utah State Prison.

St. Jude Family Fights Back After Getting SLAMMED For Thanking Eric Trump So Eric Trump raised $16.3 million for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. A woman thanked him on Twitter and now she says “the hate that has come out is unreal. Unreal.”